Bill Gates is paying a "nonprofit" already overly involved in federal affairs to "help" the USDOE "improve" its operations -- and no doubt those "improvements" will coincidentally serve the lucrative, privatizing purposes of the nonprofit-affiliated "improvers."

I have been told that "the unions" are the major forces on the side of classroom teachers in this fight against the corporate takeover of American public education. I want that to be true -- but I cannot ignore what I am seeing.

The nation's second-largest school district is at the center of a broader battle over the future over education reform. Since 2010, Superintendent John Deasy has run the district, implementing policies consistent with the national "education reform" movement, which pushes things such as test-based teacher evaluations and charter schools. But if the composition of the school board changes significantly, Deasy could be fired.

An NEA commission report released last Thursday appears to depart from union positions on seniority; tenure; performance pay; student achievement as a factor in evaluations; and the role of teachers in evaluating their colleagues.